Yahoo Finance After four marriages Gregg Wallace believes that love is 'a game of chance'
When Greg Wallace married his wife Anne-Marie Sterpini in August 2016, it was actually fourth time lucky for the Masterchef star.
With three divorces behind him, it’s fair to say the former greengrocer has probably learnt a few things about love. Speaking on White Wine Question Time, he told Kate Thornton, that his rollercoaster relationship history has taught him one important thing.
“It's taught me that it's an absolute game of chance – and that is it!” laughed Wallace.
He continued: “It is a complete and utter lottery and I'm very, very fortunate that I just got the winning ticket. I mean, I just won the Euro Millions the day that young lady walked into my life.”
Listen: Gregg Wallace talks about what it was like being a single dad to his two kids
That ‘young lady’, who is 21 years younger than Wallace, got together with the TV star after she tweeted him to ask if rhubarb really went with duck after seeing him try the recipe on a TV show. It’s not Wallace’s first Twitter romance either. He met his last wife, Heidi Brown, the same way.
When asked by Thornton why he favoured Twitter as a dating option, Wallace said that because of his celebrity, he couldn’t just go into bars and start chatting someone up.
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“What I liked about Twitter was it's not a dating site,” he said. “You can just have friendly chats with people, but you know, where are you supposed to meet people? I don't know how you can meet someone and fall in love without actually meeting someone!”
Unfortunately for Wallace, that Twitter romance wasn’t to be. After meeting in 2009, the pair got wed in 2011 and divorced just a year later in 2012.
“The third one – huge, huge mistake – and it's probably the unhappiest I've ever been in my life,” he told Thornton.
It wasn’t his shortest marriage though. That honour goes to his first wife, Christine, who he was married to for just six weeks. The love lesson he’s learnt from that relationship?
“Don't marry anybody because you are worried about losing your house,” he revealed.
“We bought a small house together in Bermondsey, then we broke up and I thought, ‘Well, this is, this is terrible. What's going to happen to the house? I've worked so hard.’
Read more: Gregg Wallace says he lost weight because his wife didn’t want a 'fat old husband'
“So, we got back together again. And, well, because we'd broken up once already, we got married.”
Wallace was with wife number three, Denise, for 14 years and the pair had two children together: Tom and Libby. After their relationship ended, Wallace eventually got full custody of the kids.
“I didn't get custody of them straight away,” he said.
“I left their mum and them with a nice detached house in Richmond. My business had gone under, I didn't have a great deal of money, but I gave them everything I had and started to rebuild my life. Then I realised that she had serious alcohol issues. She died two years ago, drank herself to death.”
Wallace who lives with his wife, in-laws, baby boy Sid and daughter Libby, says he wishes he’d only ever had one wife.
When asked by Thornton, what he’d tell his 17-year-old, he said: “You have absolutely nothing to worry about. You are about to embark on the biggest adventure you could possibly ever imagine.”
Read more: Gregg Wallace jokes about age difference with wife
He continued: “You have got absolutely no idea where you're going, but let me tell you, it is beyond your wildest expectations and a small little note at the bottom would say - just make sure you don't marry anybody until you meet Anna!”
The pair have collaborated on a cookbook – Gregg's Italian Family Cookbook – and also currently work together on his new health subscription service.
Hear Gregg Wallace talk about what it’s like working with John Torrode and why he’ll never give up the booze! Listen now on iTunes and Spotify.
